This invention relates to the free stream dispersal of fluids put into motion by a hydrostatic pressure difference and, more particularly, to the spray of water produced by fixed sprinkler heads for the purpose of irrigation. Sprinkler heads as commonly used consist of a standard body part with female threads for attaching the body part to a riser nipple and and orifice piece which screws into the body part. The orifice piece contains a centered entrance hole as a passageway for water entering under pressure from the riser. The water exits from the orifice piece as a spray whose special distribution is determined by the shape of the exitway. The exitway, as presently manufactured for sprinkler head orifice pieces, is molded or saw cut to cause a desired sector of spray coverage such as "full circle" or "quarter circle." Means are provided in the orifice piece to balance a sprinkler circuit containing several sprinkler heads. The means consist of a screw adjustment of the volume of water delivered from each head. By reducing the volume of water discharged from upstream heads on a circuit, overpressure is preserved for the volume discharge of downstream heads on the same circuit. However, the range of adjustment is limited, primarily because reduction of the volume discharge through an orifice causes the velocity to decrease. There becomes too little momentum in the water flow to interact with the orifice piece exitway, and the desired spray configuration deteriorates. At still lower volume flowrate, there is no spray at all and the water just dribbles off the sprinkler head. These circumstances limit the number of sprinkler heads that can be put on one circuit. The number of heads allowable is determined by the available hydrostatic pressure, the length of piping on the circuit, the pipe diameter and the practical volume throughput of each sprinkler head.
In the present art, sprays are frequently created from a jet by intercepting the jet with a reflecting surface. A case in point is the spray bottle, used, for example, to spray insecticides. Although this invention will be seen to employ a deflected jet, the purpose of this invention is to tailor the spray to specific fluid flow and geometrical requirements while the spray bottle cited above derives from a different objective. The deflector on a spray bottle is incidental to the spray bottle operation. The jet in a spray bottle is required for aspirating the bottle contents, and the spray deflector may be attached at the option of the user.